Self-cooking bento set for piping hot lunches

Nobody likes a cold meal, unless it is a cold cut sandwich, of course. After all, the unforgiving winter months tend to bring thermometers to its knees in terms of reading, and there would not be anything better than having something nice and warm to bite into or drink, in order to obtain heat from the food and drinks that we consume from within. Bento lunch boxes are extremely common in Japan, where they can be purchased from a supermarket, convenience store, or restaurant, and a particular subset of the bento range is known as the “station bento.” Station bento can be purchased on the platforms of major train stations that dot Japan, and feature ingredients which are native to the region where you purchase it – talk about visiting a place through your tastebuds! There is a new bento set that you can pick up if you follow the Shinkansen line through the Tōhoku region of eastern Japan, as the $13 (after conversion) Grilled Beef Tongue Bento is extra special – as you will be presented with a piping hot meal within minutes of pulling an attached cord. Check out the full action after the jump.

Just make sure the bento box is placed on a flat, even surface, and pulling a cord will take just a while before steam and/or smoke makes its way out of the box to inform you that the meal is ready to eat. The heating effect will last for around half an hour, and it might just be the next best thing since the packed bento box that you get every day from your wife. Bye bye microwave, hello self-cooking bento!